Laramie establishes human rights commission

The advisory board will recommend ways to make city services more accessible and inclusive. By ordinance, one of the board’s five voting members must be 25 or younger.

The Laramie City Council has established a municipal human rights commission, approving the new board with a unanimous vote during its meeting Tuesday.

The commission — officially the Laramie Human Rights and Relations Commission — will serve as a citizen advisory board tasked with promoting “inclusion, equity and mutual respect among community members.”

The seven-member board is empowered to host educational events and tasked with updating city officials on “changing societal conditions.” The commission will recommend ways the city can make its services more inclusive and accessible and will publish an annual report of its activities.

“The purpose and mission of the board would be to uphold Wyoming’s constitutional declaration and promise that ‘all members of the human race are equal,’” City Manager Janine Jordan told the city council during a work session earlier this year. “They would do that by working to defend the dignity and worth of all people.”

The council also approved an initial set of by-laws for the commission, in a vote immediately following the vote on the commission itself.

A commission without controversy

The ordinance establishing the commission sailed through its three required readings with little input or alteration by councilors. The idea behind the commission was broadly popular and inspired little to no debate.

There was some talk during the first meeting of trying to boost youth representation on the commission, but there was ultimately no amendment to this effect.

As it stands, the board is required to have one youth representative — a voting member no older than 25 years old.

There was also mild back-and-forth about the name of the commission during the proposal’s second reading on March 19. Councilor Brandon Newman offered an amendment during that reading to narrow the name of the board to “Human Rights Commission.” That amendment failed on a 4-4 vote.

There were no comments from members of the public during the ordinance’s public hearing last month — although a troll on Zoom did try to use that comment period to disrupt the meeting. Nor were there any public comments during the ordinance’s first, second or third reading.

The lack of public discussion stands in stark contrast to the last citizen advisory group established by the council.

The Laramie Police Advisory Board inspired significant debate and represented the culmination of several years of community discourse both within and outside of council chambers.

Like the police board, the human rights commission is strictly advisory and does not have the power to create law or set city policies.

The shape of the commission

Laramie’s new Human Rights and Relations Commission will have seven members, five of them voting members serving staggered three-year terms. The two ex-officio seats will be filled by the city manager and a city councilor appointed to the role.

The group will meet at least quarterly.

“It shall be the purpose of the Commission to uphold Wyoming’s Constitutional declaration that ‘all members of the human race are equal’ by working to defend the dignity and worth of all people and promoting inclusion, equity and mutual respect among community members,” the by-laws state.

To effect this mission, the Commission may:

• (a) Serve as a public forum for achieving greater understanding and cultural awareness in the community.

• (b) Recommend or offer programs, activities or special events, recognitions, and other educational information.

• (c) Advise on policies and strategies for making municipal government services, programs, and systems accessible to and inclusive of all residents.

• (d) Provide city officials and residents with information concerning changing societal conditions.

• (e) Cooperate with other agencies or organizations, both public and private, whose purposes are consistent with those of the Wyoming Constitution and Laramie Municipal Code.

• (f) File an annual report with the City Clerk of the activities undertaken by the Commission.

A rise in the rankings

Laramie has Wyoming’s most inclusive local government, according to a nationwide systematic ranking by the Human Rights Campaign.

Picking up points for its non-discrimination ordinance, its appointment of LGBTQ-specific liaisons in city government and the police department, and its consistent Pride Month proclamations, Laramie earned an 89 out of 100 — head and shoulders above any other Wyoming city ranked on the Municipality Equality Index.

But Laramie lost points for its lack of a city human rights commission.

On the equality index, human rights commissions are worth seven points. With the establishment of Laramie’s commission, the city stands to gain up to five of those points. Given the structure of the new commission, Laramie will miss out on the two points it could have picked up by arming the commission with an “enforcement mechanism.”

The presence or lack of an enforcement mechanism is a defining feature of city human rights commissions of this sort, according to a presentation by City Management Analyst Brannen Moan during the council’s initial work session. During that presentation, Moan identified two main flavors of commission:

• Quasi-judicial: a structure that has more power, acts more independently and requires less oversight but is often worse for outreach and education.

• Advisory: a structure that has less power and is more tightly watched or governed, but is better equipped to provide outreach and education.

The city went with the latter.